Removing Ethanol From E10 Fuel

[1LIFE2LIVE]

Great How-To article in the December issue of Motorcycle Consumer News

Get the chance check it out

[lkraus]

That's nice to know. It appears that you need a subscription to read the article. If I had a subscription, I'd already know about the article.

[lkchris]

It's a fairly lame article IMHO.

It's a lab procedure and you'd be sick of it after making maybe enough to fill a motorcycle gas tank.

The funny part was that after you remove the ethanol you'll need to add back an octane booster. The articles says "you'll turn premium into regular."

[Roger 04 RT]

For Oilheads and newer, I'm not sure what problem removing ethanol is trying to solve. It's a valid Octane booster and oxygenator.

Funny thing is if you search the web some high performance engine builders seem to be trying pure ethanol. Not that our bikes would run on it.

[PGlaves]

For Oilheads and newer, I'm not sure what problem removing ethanol is trying to solve. It's a valid Octane booster and oxygenator.

Funny thing is if you search the web some high performance engine builders seem to be trying pure ethanol. Not that our bikes would run on it.

Pure alcohol fuels predate WWII. Race cars have been using it for years.

[RoboRider]

Pure alcohol fuels predate WWII. Race cars have been using it for years.

But isn't that methanol, not ethanol?

Back in my early college days I did run my Toyota Corolla on pure ethanol, though. (Well, 95% ethanol, not neat ethanol.) It seemed to run fine.

[RoboRider]

Played around with this, just for fun, in the shop.

Take 100 mls of E10 gas (should be 90 mls gas, 10 mls ethanol):

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Add 50 mls water:

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Mix well:

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Pour back into graduated cylinder, and you have 90 mls gasoline, 60 mls water/ethanol. It works:

[Roger 04 RT]

Seems I've seen that before, always wanted to test our local fuel, may give it a try.

[RoboRider]

Seems I've seen that before, always wanted to test our local fuel, may give it a try.

Similar for me. You can find many youtube vids. I wanted to give it a try and sure enough, it works.

[Roger 04 RT]

Pure alcohol fuels predate WWII. Race cars have been using it for years.

Interesting. The sites I was reading were touting its detonation resisting qualities.

Robos' pictures showing the phase separation of water to measure alcohol content are interesting--and at the same time a warning. Get some water in the tank and the same thing happens--and your effective Octane plummets.

Isn't Heet very hard on rubber hoses?

[1LIFE2LIVE]

Played around with this, just for fun, in the shop.

Take 100 mls of E10 gas (should be 90 mls gas, 10 mls ethanol):

.
.
.
Add 50 mls water:

.
.
.
Mix well:

.
.
.
Pour back into graduated cylinder, and you have 90 mls gasoline, 60 mls water/ethanol. It works:

Proof Positive = Excellent

[GUENTHER]

Get some water in the tank and the same thing happens--and your effective Octane plummets.

I wonder how much moisture is getting into the tank from the ambient air needed to absorb the vacuum build-up. Especially when the motorcycle is parked for a longer period with an "open" tank vent ("drilled hole" in the filler cap, removal of tank vent solenoid).

/Guenther

[RoboRider]

Well, it's gonna be back to the shop time. I wonder what would happen if I added 1 ml of water to 100 mls of gasoline? Would all the 10mls of alcohol mix with the water and form a 90% ethanol solution? Cause 90% ethanol will burn.

[bobinthemtns]

Brilliant! Add a bunch of water to gasoline to remove the octane enhancer....
I just have to chuckle over the fear some folks have of alcohols in fuel.
I heard of you wrap your helmet in tin-foil........

[racer7]

The next experiment here is obvious, especially after you figure out the minimum water to remove the ethanol.

Can the removed ethanol be made safe to drink, in effect providing drinkable alcohol at an effective tax rate nearly that of moonshine (nothing, and yes some folks still make it illegally in my state where if you know the right people it can be had in 1/2 and gal containers)?

Were I doing this experiment I would take some of the removed alcohol and use it to run a burner to distill the rest, take an appropriate temperature cut of the distillate and head off to the lab to fire up the gas chromatograph for an answer re purity. I don't want to be drinking any of the aromatic hydrocarbons in gasoline and there is probably a suitable procedure readily divined that can turn cheap gasoline into high proof booze while burning all of the rest of it either in a vehicle or to run the still...that ought to assuage the hard core eco freaks at least a lttle..

I know one thing- if it gets published and enough folks do t, the feds will drop E15 thinking in a hurry. Ethanol's obvious substitute, methanol, isn't made from corn so doesn't have any huge lobby for it..